New York-based co-working space company plans to open
offices early next year

WeWork LLC has leased 40,000 square feet in each the 1449 Woodward Ave. (left) and the 1001 Woodward buildings in downtown Detroit.

Correction appended

WeWork LLC plans to open two downtown Detroit locations in buildings owned by Dan Gilbert early next year.

The New York City-based co-working space company signed leases Friday for about 40,000 square feet each in the 1001 Woodward skyscraper, for three floors, and in the building at 1449 Woodward Ave., for the remaining seven floors above the Kit + Ace clothing store.

The 80,000-square-foot deal brings more space for startup companies and others to the downtown office market, which totals about 13 million square feet.

WeWork expects to have about 1,500 desks in its space.

WeWork is also considering a third location, Jim Ketai, managing partner and CEO of Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC, said in an interview with Crain's on Monday.

WeWork memberships range in cost and features from desk space on a first-come, first-served basis starting at $220 per month to private office space beginning at $450 per month.

The cost to build out the space was not disclosed.

Ketai said WeWork executives came to Detroit a couple of years ago and went on a tour of the downtown area with Bedrock.

"We sort of just kind of exchanged ideas then," Ketai said. "We thought one day these two paths were going to cross."

The company, founded in 2010 by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey, has U.S. locations in Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Berkeley, Calif.; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Los Angeles; Miami; New York City; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; San Jose; Seattle and Washington, D.C.

It also has locations worldwide in Canada, Australia, Germany, Israel, China, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

"WeWork is a global business but we are also a local business. Each one of our locations represents a vibrant local community and a new way of working," McKelvey said in a statement.

"Detroit is one of the places in the world where the way we work is changing now. Business, government, philanthropy and individuals have all worked together to share ideas, provide solutions and create new opportunities in Detroit. That's exactly the type of community to which we want to contribute."

Detroit-based Neumann/Smith Architecture was the architect on the 1001 Woodward and 1449 Woodward projects.

WeWork has more than 65,000 members representing nearly 10,000 companies in a real estate portfolio of more than 7 million square feet in more than 100 buildings.

Ketai said WeWork helps cement downtown and the surrounding area as welcome spots for startup companies, with places such as Bamboo at 1442 Brush St. and Gilbert's the Madison Building on Broadway Street also offering co-working space. Bamboo started three years ago and has grown from 15 to 120 member businesses in industries as varied as real estate and photography.

"This allows someone who is working on a startup, who doesn't have a ton of money in the beginning, to work in a shared environment where they would have all the services they need," Ketai said.

In August 2014, Bloomfield Township-based Princeton Enterprises LLC bought three buildings, including the 1449 Woodward building, in a portfolio deal for $5.8 million. Since that time, that portfolio sold to Gilbert for an undisclosed price.

In addition to Kit + Ace, which opened earlier this year, the 1449 Woodward Ave. building is also expected to become home to a Warby Parker eyeglasses store that is to open in mid-November.

Gilbert paid about $32 million for the 1001 Woodward skyscraper and a 700-plus spot parking garage in March 2013. The building has 320,000 square feet across 23 stories.

Since 2011, Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans Inc. and Rock Ventures LLC, has purchased nearly 100 properties — buildings and parking decks, for example — in the downtown area totaling more than 15 million square feet, according to the most recent tally from Rock and Bedrock.

The companies say the investment has totaled more than $2.2 billion.

Editor's note: The original version of this article inaccurately stated the number of member businesses at Bamboo. This version is correct.